There's a fine line when it comes to the permanent and temporary. This thought has become quite clear to me just within my first four months of college; especially during this time, in what is our millennial lives. I go every day seeing new faces, having new conversations, meeting amazing humans, and as Hozier said best, falling in love with someone new every day.
I like to think that there is a certain kind of satisfaction about packing up your life and taking it somewhere else, and this thought was exactly the kind of mindset I had coming into college. I love my hometown friends to death and wouldn't be the person I am today without them.
They've taught me how to love and they've given me a second family within our friendship. These people were my permanent for four years of my high school life. I wasn't ready to leave that back home, but I was ready to move onto college and pursue better things that were out waiting for me.
Moving on not only meant a whole new environment but a whole new group of people that I had to create bonds with. This was the first time in my life that I barely knew anyone and really had to try at making new friends. I had to create a permanent environment with what was, four months back, temporary people.
A lot can change in four months, yet it's been enough time to separate the temporary and permanent humans in my life. They say you come across most of what is temporary people throughout your college life, but here's how I perceive the permanent versus the temporary:
The built-in permanent humans in one's life mean more than words can explain. These are the people who can sit down with you in a raging conversation or complete silence. This person might have been there for you since you were a fetus or even the first person you met at college. Hopefully, it's easy to pick out one or perhaps more than one person who is your shoulder to cry on or smile to rely on no matter the season.
Then come the temporary, or what seems to be a good portion of people surrounding one while growing up and figuring this whole life thing out. Perhaps it starts out with your second grade best friend turning into just another passing face in the high school crowd, or your first crush eventually making you question what they've been up to all these years.
It's ongoing until now, the present. So many people, so many faces, so many bonds, and all for some to just be lost; to just be a memory of a person who once made you feel a certain way. Whether that feeling is sad, confused, or happy, there are reasons for these certain someones to come and go. I mean, right? If there's anything we've learned growing up, it's that there are reasons for everything.
One thing that has become quite transparent to me is that letting the "bad" temporary control thoughts, motives, and feelings will do anything but keep a smile on one's face. It's easy to get so caught up in the temporary that we only go to the permanent when we really need it because it's always there, no matter what. We want new and exciting, and that's just what the temporary brings.
Now, in no way am I saying all temporary is bad, but I think it's extremely important to have transparency between the five minutes of temporary fun and five years of permanent content happiness.
The temporary may be your present permanent, so live in it as much as you please. Learn from the good, clear out the bad, and never let go of the permanent that is there to catch you at your lows and scream to the world about your highs.
